


Pining Isn't Happening Here

by Weevilo707



Category: The Adventure Zone (Podcast)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Coffee Shops & Cafés, Fluff, M/M, Mutual Pining, Pining, some background blupjeans, taako's gay and keeps sitting on the counters
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-05-16
Updated: 2018-05-16
Packaged: 2019-05-08 00:14:31
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,968
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14682456
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Weevilo707/pseuds/Weevilo707
Summary: Taako appreciated Barry getting him this summer job at the coffee shop. It had decent hours and let him bake every morning. Most of the customers were assholes sure, but not all of them. One in particular actually seemed like a pretty decent dude. He was definitely aprettydude. Taako had eyes and could appreciate a hot guy when he saw one.This was getting ridiculous though. He was too fucking gay for this.





	Pining Isn't Happening Here

**Author's Note:**

  * For [MoonPaw17](https://archiveofourown.org/users/MoonPaw17/gifts).



“Barry, I’m fucking gay,” Taako whined, letting his head flop down onto the counter now that the shop was empty.

“Sorry, my heart belongs to your sister, it just won’t work,” Barry said. If Taako didn’t know him as well as he did the blunt, serious tone to his voice might’ve made him think he meant it. He did know Barry though, so he huffed and tossed an empty plastic cup at his head.

“Not even remotely close to the issue at hand,” he said. He didn’t bother explaining because he knew that Barry had a pretty good idea by this point. This was his reaction after dealing with a particular customer more often than not lately. It’d been going on for at least a month now. Sure Taako was thankful that Barry landed him this shitty summer job, but that didn’t make the whole thing any less awful.

“If you’re done pining your cookies are burning,” Barry said after a moment.

“Fuck you, I don’t pine or burn food. That’s not how Taako do,” he said, but he did rush up from where he’d been slumped over the counter to pull the pastries out of the oven. They weren’t burnt, just like he’d thought. So he was telling the truth there. Probably.

“I mean, I wouldn’t say I’m an expert on pining,” Barry started, and Taako scoffed at that. If there was ever an expert on that subject Barold Bluejeans and Taako’s wonderful disaster of a sister had goddamn PhDs in it. How they weren’t together yet was beyond him. “But I’m pretty sure longing stares and sighs and bemoaning how gay you are might be signs that you're pining,” he finished. Taako rolled his eyes, putting the rack of cookies down to cool. This was the last batch he’d had to make today, so now he was just on helping Barry with coffee duty.

He preferred the mornings when he could shut himself in the back and bake, but dealing with customers wasn’t so bad. Some were kind of nice, and making drinks was another form of cooking in a way.

And okay, he wasn’t pining but there was a customer he preferred serving over the others. That he could admit. It wasn’t his fault that he had eyes and the dude was hot as fuck. And nice. And dorky in a way Taako hadn’t expected to like but tuned out to be his jam.

Kravitz came in early today though so he didn’t have anything else to look forward to. Well, except for Barry getting on his case about the whole thing apparently. Sure, maybe he had brought the topic up but he didn’t have to continue it into a conversation.

“You could just ask him out, you know,” Barry said, and Taako rolled his eyes.

“Who are you and what have you done with my future brother-in-law?” he asked, because out of anyone, Barry did not have the right to go telling someone to just ‘go ask them out.’

“Just because I won’t doesn’t mean it’s not good advi- wait your  _ what?” _ Barry asked, sounding very flustered by the suggestion.

“Hey, I calls em like I sees em,” Taako said. Thankfully that and the next incoming rush of customers kept them from returning to the previous conversation. He wasn’t avoiding the conversation, there just wasn’t anything else to say.

Kravitz was just a dude who was very nice to look at that came into the coffee shop every Monday through Thursday and every other Friday. Taako wasn’t sure when he’d noticed that, he hadn’t been paying attention. He was in here so much that the days he weren’t were noticeable.

And maybe Taako talked to him a bit more than he did with the average customer, at least when the time would allow. He didn’t seem to be a complete douche bag, which also set him apart from the average person. Kravitz actually seemed interested whenever he asked how his day was too, and not even in a creepy way! Taako didn’t even know that was possible when working in customer service.

Taako could admit that yeah alright, he had a bit of a crush on the dude. He was a fucking disaster in most things so it only made sense that he was one here too.

But he wasn’t  _ pining. _

It was slow and getting close to closing time when the door opened and Taako had to hold back a groan. People who came into a coffee shop past 7pm were almost universally assholes and Barry was doing dishes in the back.

The annoyance he’d been feeling left in an instant when he actually saw who it was though.

“My dude! Back already huh? Couldn’t even wait a whole day this time?” Taako asked, and it was pretty rare that his smile wasn’t fake when dealing with customers. It tended to happen surprisingly often around Kravitz though.

“I guess I just can’t get enough,” Kravitz said, the smile on his face dropping after a moment. “Of the- of the coffee, I mean,” he added.

“Of course,” Taako said, already grabbing a cup before he could start to order. “Want your regular or do you wanna switch it up with some decaf since it’s late as fuck?” he asked. Kravitz’s taste in coffee was horrendously plain, but that one of the few downsides to him that Taako could find.

“Regular please, I’m getting stuck covering a night shift,” Kravitz explained. Taako gave a hiss of sympathy as he started making the drink.

“Ouch, that’s rough my dude,” he said. The one good thing about this job, besides giving him the chance to bake a fuckton every morning, was that they closed at eight. Sure, Taako didn’t sleep much to begin with, but he liked to have the opportunity to.

“It’s what it is,” Kravitz said, and Taako finished up his drink. Hesitating a moment, he grabbed a little paper bag and threw a couple cookies in it before putting it on the counter as well. Kravitz never ordered cookies, so he had to guess on the flavors.

“Four eighty nine,” he said, even though he knew Kravitz had to know the price of his coffee by now.

“Um,” Kravitz said, glancing down at the bag of cookies.

“We’re closing in like twenty minutes and they’ll just be thrown out anyway. I can only smuggle so many back to my place,” Taako said, and it was true. He definitely wasn’t able to eat all the left overs himself, in fact he mostly pawned them off on Lup and Magnus.

“Oh, well I appreciate it,” Kravitz said, taking the bag and handing Taako his card. It only took a second for Taako to ring up the order and hand it back. He expected Kravitz to leave then, but he hesitated for a moment. It was just long enough to be so fucking incredibly awkward.

“Uh, goodnight,” Kravitz said finally, turning away.

“Later homie,” Taako said. The second the door was closed Taako groaned and slumped dramatically onto the counter. Then, when that wasn’t dramatic enough, he hefted himself up to lay along it instead. Barry came back in when he was about halfway situated and for his part didn’t seem phased in the slightest.

“Don’t get your shoes on the counter, I’m not cleaning that for you,” he said simply.

“I’m not a fucking animal Barold, my feet are dangling off the end like a civilized member of society,” Taako said, kicking a foot up for emphasis.

“How gay are you this time?” Barry asked, starting to put things away around him. Every so often Taako would hand him a stack of cups or a sponge to be helpful.

“I gave him free cookies,” he explained. He could see Barry nodding sympathetically before gesturing for a scrub brush by his head. “I told him we were gonna throw them out anyway, I couldn’t even be cool about it,” he added, handing over the brush.

“Maybe next time you should say something like ‘a little sugar for some sugar’ or something,” Barry said, and Taako barked out a laugh.

“Holy fucking shit, please tell me you’ve tried that one on Lup,” Taako said, letting his arm hang out the side of the counter.

“God, no,” Barry said, sounding horrified at the thought, which was fair. Taako knew Lup liked the dork, but not even she could let something like that go without eating him alive.

“Still,” Barry said, trying to swerve the conversation away from him again, “you should say something. Ask for his number, he’s probably not trying anything because hitting on people when they’re working is sleazy.” Taako sighed, pushing himself up to look at Barry, who was scrubbing one of the coffee makers. Taako heard the door open behind him but ignored it. If they didn’t want to deal with him sitting on the counter they shouldn’t have come in five minutes before closing.

“Yeah, I’ll just do that Barold. Next time he comes in I’ll say ‘hey Krav, here’s your coffee. By the way I’m gay as fuck and can’t stop staring at your eyes please date me,’” he huffed.

Barry had his lips pursed together, and Taako couldn’t quite read the expression on his face. It looked halfway between trying not to laugh and looking for a quick means of escape. He also kept glancing back behind Taako and right, someone was in here. Sighing heavily he started turning himself around on the counter.

“Hey, we’re clo-ooh fuck.”

Kravitz was standing there, shock clear on his face. He still had the coffee and bag of cookies Taako had given him earlier. Taako had no earthly clue what would have made him come back here.

The sound of the backroom door closing caught his attention, and when Taako looked behind him again Barry was gone.

“You motherfucker! I’m telling Lup about the swim lesson!” Taako shouted after him before turning back towards Kravitz. He looked less blindsided now, but Taako still couldn’t tell what he was thinking.

“Uh, forget something?” he asked. Maybe if he pretended it never happened Kravitz would too.

“I uh,” Kravitz said, sounding like he was trying to remember how to talk. “I ate one of the cookies and just wanted to tell you that um, they’re good. Really good,” he said.

“Oh, thanks,” Taako said. Neither of them said anything for a moment and god this was awkward.

“So… were you talking about some other Krav or…” he trailed off, and Taako groaned.

“No, dude obviously not,” he said.

“Oh.”

“Yeah,” Taako muttered. This was fucking awful.

“Um, I need to get to work but uh, could I get your number? To set up a date?” Kravitz asked, and Taako blinked in surprise.

“Right, yeah of course,” he said, having to be careful not to knock a bag of sugar over while fumbling for his phone. He should probably get off the counter at this point, but nah. Kravitz quickly put his number in his phone before handing it back to him.

“I’ll text you later then?” he asked and Taako nodded.

“Hell yeah, later,” Taako said. With that Kravitz left again, and a few moments later Taako heard the backroom door inch open.

“Good news Barold, I’ve elected not to kill you,” he said, hearing the door open completely after that.

“I guess it went well?” he asked, and Taako nodded, not quite able to force away the smile on his face.

“Yeah, something like that,” he said, finally pushing himself off the counter.

And okay, maybe he could admit that he’d been pining a little bit before. It didn’t matter one way or the other now.

He could do a lot more than just pining now.

**Author's Note:**

> a request for moonpaw!!! I really hope you liked this, it was a lot of fun to write. I love these dorks so much. 
> 
> As always, thanks for reading and I hope you enjoyed!


End file.
